


A Brief Summer In Georgia

by ghostea



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, Bullying, a bad guide, a guide to making friends, granny keeny - Freeform, mentions of abuse, mr nashton, written by two assholes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 11:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11160948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostea/pseuds/ghostea
Summary: Edward has to visit his relatives down in Georgia with his dad sometimes in the summer. A bug-hunt gone wrong leads Edward to making a new friend. Well, Jonathan hasn't agreed to being his friendyetbut Edward's working on it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a random thought I had ages ago that led to this mess. So basically Edward has relatives down in Georgia he has to visit and I know they aren't the same age but in this both Edward and Jonathan are around 15, neither of them have committed any particularly dastardly acts yet. So really I've taken aspects of certain things and sort of played around with them to make this jumbled mess. But I hope you at least enjoy it! (PS. I am from the UK and so I have no idea how America works beyond a few bits and pieces of research but if I get anything wrong please tell me)

Edward was panting by the time he had gotten out far enough to feel secure in his bug-hunt. The Georgian sun was incredibly harsh and the frail city-boy wasn’t used to the weather at all. Gotham was a much colder and darker place after all. Insects chirped in the mid-day sun and Edward wished he had stole away a water bottle or something before escaping from the house. Just because they were in a different place didn’t mean the shouting stopped. But it was a brief respite for Edward, his father was more hesitant to start aiming blows around Edward’s uncle and aunt. Not that Edward supposed the two would do much about it if they saw what his father did to him. No one did.

The cheap magnifying glass he had swiped from his school was heavy in his pockets, jangling annoyingly against his skinny leg as he began his search. He had read plenty of books in insects but he had never gotten to see a lot of them up close. Edward turned his head at some particularly loud chirping in the field beside him and eagerly set foot into the tall field, hoping the towering crops would offer some shade from the violent sun.

\--

Edward was lost. He was sure if we went in one direction for long enough he would find the edge of the field and be on his way and he was pretty sure he hadn’t taken that many twists and turns when chasing a particularly large grasshopper that he had wanted to give a closer inspection. He started to panic, remembering when his uncle had told him to not stray into the fields too much in case a farmer shot at him. Was it true? He panicked. Would they really shoot at him?

“Ow!” a voice hissed, Edward turned sharply to face the direction the voice came from. That didn’t sound like the voice of a farmer out to get him. Maybe this person could help him find his way out? Edward gave a slight snort, he should be so lucky.

“Who’s there?!” the voice demanded. Woops. Edward slowly poked his head through the crops into a small cleared area were a scarecrow stood menacingly. But in front of the gangly bird-scarer was a just as gangly boy.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” the other boy was scowling, it briefly reminded Edward of the Georgian sun with how harsh it was. Something glinted and Edward gulped. The boy was holding a scythe.

“I-I’m Edward, Edward Nashton” Edward spoke nervously as he stepped fully through into the small clearing. The boy looked him up and down, obviously unimpressed.

“Didn’t know the Nashton’s had a kid, never seen ya in school before” Edward shook his head

“You must be thinking of my uncle and aunt, me and my father are visiting from Gotham”

“That would explain the schmancy accent” Edward felt like that was meant to be an insult.

“So who are you? And why have you got a scythe? Are you a farmer? Do farmers still use scythes? I saw combine-harvesters on the way down here so that can’t be the-“

“I am not a farmer!” the boy snapped irritably “and you talk too much” the boy had defensively crossed his arms as best he could over his chest whilst still holding firmly to the scythe. They stood in silence for a while as the insects continued their songs. Edward hid a giggle at the idea of a tumbleweed.

“What!?” the boy snapped at him, Edward put up his hands defensively

“Nothing, nothing, I just imagined a tumbleweed going across in the silence, like in the movies or something, do you actually have tumbleweeds here? Is that really a thing?” the boy rolled his eyes

“City folk” he muttered “yeah but they ain’t that common, dunno why you’d make a movie on them, sounds dull” Edward stared at him in confusion.

“They- they don’t make movies about tumbleweeds, they have them roll across an area if it’s particularly awkward or two cowboys are having a standoff or something” the other boy frowned and looked down slightly, as if berating himself for getting it wrong.

“Oh” was all he said.

“Have you never watched a movie before?” the boy was back to glaring at him

“Who says I haven’t?! And what’s it to you anyhow!?” Edward concluded that this boy was volatile, but unlikely to use his scythe on him.

“I was just asking” Edward shrugged his shoulders and held his hands behind his back.

\--

Jonathan looked the boy up and down again as he rocked on the balls of his feet, as if completely at ease. Edward should be terrified, he had a scythe and knew nothing about him, Jonathan could be a psycho killer for all he knew. The rare city rat that passed through the area seemed to think the worst of them all. Not that Jonathan could blame them, if he was honest with himself he was pretty jealous every time he saw one drive away and leave this place for good.

He saw Edward pull at his sleeves nervously.

“Did you know that scythes were also used by the Ancient Romans?” Edward was odd, he’d give him that. Jonathan didn’t deign to give him an answer. Letting him squirm a moment longer.

“You didn’t tell me what you were doing out here”

“Well _you_ didn’t tell me your name” Edward gave a weak glare and put his hands on his hips defiantly. Jonathan grunted, unimpressed. Edward held the pose for a while longer before dropping it with a sigh.

“If you must know, I got lost, I was looking for grasshoppers and cicadas and such, I’ve only ever seen them in books and I wanted a closer look, before I knew it I was lost and I couldn’t find my way out” Jonathan smirked

“Well, you are pretty short so that isn’t all surprising” Edwards previous pose was back and the glare was slightly stronger

“Not like you’re any taller!”

“But I ain’t a complete midget” Edward huffed

“How rude of you, there is nothing wrong with my height”

“Sure thing, sprout”

“Whatever you- you-“ Edward saw the scarecrow, still looming menacingly in the distance   
“scarecrow!” a sharp shove sent Edward toppling to the floor, a sharp crunch was heard as he landed.

“Don’t call me that!” Jonathan barked, Edward blinked up at the other boys angry face, clearly frightened, eyes flicking to the scythe now on the floor that Jonathan had dropped to attack the other boy.  
When Edward realised that Jonathan was unlikely to start attacking him again Edward moved to sit up before wincing and reaching into his pocket to pull out a broken magnifying glass.

“Oh” Edward said, his shoulders drooping. There go his scientific endeavours for the time being. Jonathan wouldn’t admit that he felt slightly guilty.

“Get up, I’ll show ya back to the road and then you’re on your own” Edward nodded and got up, following Jonathan in silence as he was led out of the labyrinth of crops. The scarecrow quickly disappearing from his view.

The journey to the road seemed to take ages, Edward was beginning to find that he was struggling for breath, hoping the other boy wouldn’t notice and mock him for it like his height. It wasn’t his fault he was so short, he just hadn’t hit a growth spurt yet unlike the string bean of a boy in front of him. Jonathan however did notice but was unsure on whether or not to point it out. If he pointed it out it might seem like he cared but if he didn’t it would keep gnawing at him until the cows came home. And he didn’t have any cows.

“What’s wrong? Yer breathin’ funny” Jonathan finally asked as Edward began hiccuping small coughs and gasps. Edward didn’t reply, his already slumped figure pulling further into himself as he pulled an inhaler from his pocket without the broken magnifying glass in. Quickly taking it to relieve his struggling lungs. Jonathan watched in mild curiosity.

“What’cha got there?” Edward looked up at him, a mixture of defiance and embarrassment in his expression.

“My inhaler” Jonathan blinked at him

“I have asthma, it helps me breathe if I get breathless” Jonathan crinkled his nose in confusion

“But we were just walking”

“And!? It’s so hot! I don’t know how you survive out here!” Edward whined pitifully and Jonathan felt annoyed that he found it sort of funny.

“Well what’s it like where you’re from?”

“Gotham’s weather is pretty miserable, always seems to be cloudy and dark, lots or rain too, we had to read about America’s different climates in Geography last term, is it true that that you get tornadoes? Have you ever seen one? What’s it like?” God was this kid chatty Jonathan mentally sighed.

They chatted for the rest of the way, mostly it was Edward talking as he tended to ramble but Jonathan found he was chatting back which was highly unusual. Not that many people tried to hold conversations with him anyway. Eventually they reached the edge of the field, the wide road for the tractors and rare vehicle stretching seemingly on forever. Edward continued talking even though they had reached their destination, tugging occasionally at his sleeve which Jonathan recognised as a tick of some sort. Jonathan briefly wondered if he should point out that they had reached the road or not, but seeing Edward nervously look at the road like it was about to bite him made him hold his tongue.

...For about ten minutes before Jonathan realised that this boy was going to put off the inevitable for as long as he could.

“Well, here we are” Jonathan butted in to Edward’s ramblings, currently on the breeding cycles of cicadas and the different frequencies they made compared to grasshoppers.

“Oh… right, yeah, sorry” Edward said, using a smaller voice than he had been enthusiastically chattering in before. Jonathan watched the boy slowly begin his lonely trudge up the road, most likely heading to wherever he was staying. Jonathan didn’t know what made him say it but later in life he’s glad he did.

“Jonathan, my name is Jonathan” the smile Edward turned to give him was almost blinding.


	2. Chapter 2

Jonathan swung his scythe in what seemed to be a wild fashion, lashing at the air and trying to spin to make a kick at the same time. This would show them, if he could fight back then they’d finally leave him alone-

“Hello!” Jonathan shrieked slightly and slipped on nothing, his back landing on the floor with a thud.

“Oh I didn’t mean to startle you” Jonathan huffed and glared up at the boy from yesterday.

“Why are you back here?” Edward smiled innocently at him

“Would you believe that I'm lost again?” Jonathan continued to glare at him and Edward rolled his eyes  
“Fine, I wanted to see if you wanted to uh, hang out” that caught Jonathan by surprise

“What?”

“You know, hang out, me and you” Edward used a finger to gesture between them, looking slightly hopeful in his big green eyes. Jonathan got up from the floor.

“I’m not looking for friends” Edward shrugged

“Well, we’re not friends yet, we barely know each other” Jonathan tried to look intimidating as he had done yesterday but apparently his momentary kindness from the day before had stuck with the other boy who just looked at him expectantly.

“What was it that you were doing anyway?” Jonathan blushed with embarrassment

“Nothin’!” Edward was taken aback from the outburst

“Didn’t look like nothing, looked kind of like the moves from some sort of fighting, are you in a club? Are you practicing?” Jonathan folded his arms

“I ain’t in no club”

“So you _are_ in a club?”

“What did I just say-” Edward chuckled with a cheeky look

“Sorry, sorry, I just had to, you used a double negative, I couldn't help myself” Jonathan sneered slightly

“Whatever”

“I wasn’t laughing at your accent, I think it’s kind of sweet on you, my uncle sounds way too gruff and my aunt’s is really grating but with you it actually sounds nice” Jonathan blinked, the sneer disappearing and a slight warm feeling in his chest, Edward nodded   
“And I don’t go handing out compliments lightly, especially to country bumpkins” the snarl was back.

“I ain’t no bumpkin!”

“So you admit you’re a bumpkin then?”

“Wha- no! Shove off already, city-boy!” Jonathan tried to tower over the shorter boy but Edward just smirked up at him.

“I’m only joking, partially, I don’t know if you’re smart or not yet, because we don’t know each other yet”

“And we don’t need ta, so now get!” Jonathan growled out, Edward merely continued smiling and rocked on his heels

“So you’d prefer me to go away thinking you’re just another redneck?” Jonathan growled and clenched his fist, the insecurity within him saying everything this boy was was saying was true, he was just another redneck.

“I ain’t no redneck- augh!” Jonathan wanted to pull his hair out for making the same mistake a third time. Edward’s giggle was not helping. Jonathan didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to leave, this was his spot, but Edward definitely wasn’t moving and he was too fired up to think of anything to say back to the little jerk.

“Why don’t you just get gone! I don’t want you here!” Edward ignored him and sat on the ground

“Did you know that monks practice martial arts?”

“I don’t care-”

“There’s a type of martial arts called the crane style, did you know that? The white crane style was developed in southern China and it imitates-”

“How did you find out my last name?” the smile Edward gave him made him want to kick himself, or Edward preferably.

“So you are Jonathan Crane! I had to check, I wasn’t sure, hey, if you live with your grandma called kee-”

“How did you find out my full name?” Jonathan quickly interrupted him, he didn’t want to hear her name, especially in his private place.

“Oh I just mention ‘Jonathan’ was your name when they asked me where I had gone and I mention I ran into you who helped me get home because I was lost and they got angry because I had wandered off-”

“You’re rambling”

“Right, well, they told me I shouldn’t talk to you and I wanted to know why and they wouldn’t tell me and you were kind of rude but you don’t seem all bad so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about-”

“If they told you to stay away from me, why didn’t you listen?” Edward rolled his eyes

“Weren’t you listening to _me_? I literally just told you, it was because I wanted to know why I shouldn’t hang around you”

“So you potentially put yourself in danger just to sate your curiosity?” Jonathan asked incredulously, Edward nodded and shrugged

“I know people tell other people to avoid me as well, so I kind of figured that… well…”

“You know that people tell other people to avoid you because you can be annoying and so you wanted to see if I was in the same boat and we could become friends over mutual loneliness?”

“So you’re _not_ just another redneck, how observant, but in short, yes, I wanted to offer the metaphorical olive branch of friendship” Edward smiled up at Jonathan as if to say ‘you’re welcome’ and Jonathan wanted it gone.

“No”

“Oh don’t be like that, come on-”

“I said no”

“But _why_ -”

“Maybe it’s because you’re annoying and those people are right, and you should definitely leave me alone” Jonathan hoped that was enough to get the brat to leave but all it seemed to do was make him try harder.

“So why do people avoid you then? Why don’t you want me around when you clearly don’t have swarms of friends”

“I don’t want swarms of friends, I want to be left alone”

“No one want’s to be left alone”

“Well I do, now get going already”

“Nope, not until you tell me why people avoid you” Edward folded his arms and sat primly in his baggy, ratty clothing. It was quite the contradiction. Jonathan groaned, what he wouldn’t give to be able to scare him away.

“I don’t want to talk about it”

“Well then it looks like I’m going to be here for a while” Jonathan growled under his breath angrily. Fine, if Edward was going to be stubborn, so was he. Jonathan silently turned away, ignoring Edward in the hopes he would get bored and leave, and began practicing again.


End file.
